Optical out sends constant noise to speakers

Hi,
Is it normal that when I connect the optical out to the surround sound system the speakers produce a constant hissing noise. If I connect any other device with optical out to the surround system instead of the AppleTV, the speakers don't produce this annoying feedback noise. Is this a problem with my specific AppleTV or is this a design malfunction in all AppleTV devices.
The noise always has a constant volume.
I have tried connecting it to a different surround sound system, and the AppleTV
still produces the same noise. It's likely that most people won't be bothered by
this, but I have sensitive ears and I did expect high quality output from this
rather expensive device (given the limitations apple has enforced upon it, even though the hardware is capable of so much more).
Thnx.
(To bad I couldn't get online support from Apple for the AppleTV, seems
they only have e-mail service for iTunes store????)
Message was edited by: timothyparez

This is a public update of Lion available since last night.
No a developer thing.
Click in your "Apple" menu (top left) and then "Software Update"
The usual procedure.
I have left my machine on all night long and the sound is still good and the "SoundStay" app is still runnig fine.

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Hello John, I figured it was a signal issue. All the speakers fire and the sound is great. I was running the speakers thru a Dell PC with a Creative X-Fi Elite Pro, THX Certified, 7.1 soundcard using a fiber optic from the Mac Pro to the Z906's, it worked great until the Dell died!!! When I bought the soundcard from Creative I also bought the GigaWorks S750, THX Certified, 700 watt, 7.1 speaker system, used the speakers for 11 years and then the woofer/amp said "I QUIT" Creative quit making the speaker system and the sound card. The satellite speakers from the Creative GigaWorks speaker system still sound great (rated at 78 watt each) and are a little better speaker than the one's that came with the Z906 and the wattage from the 906 is sufficient to drive the satellites without any distortion. Thank you for addressing my issue, you confirmed what I suspected all along, just needed to hear it from someone with the same setup.
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